^^0iT>2 

6,  Awtc  r 


L,ai*|ds 


Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church 

501  Witherspoon  Building,  Philadelphia 


i^nnsHca 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/homelifeinotherlOOhend 


HOME-LIFE  IN  BRAZIL. 


[Note.— The  writer  of  this  leaflet  has  written  of  home-life  in  Brazil,  as  known  to 
her  personally,  and  as  fairly  representing  that  of  South  America  in  general,  so  far  as 
the  interior  of  the  country  is  concerned.] 

While  the  coast  cities  and  the  interior  towns  connected  with  them 
by  the  few  railroads  which  until  the  present  time  have  penetrated  into  the 
Sertao  (as  the  vast  region  little  known  and  thinly  populated  of  the  in- 
terior of  Brazil  is  called),  have  the  civilization  and  modes  of  life  of  South- 
ern Europe,  the  people  of  remote  country  districts  retain  many  of  the 
primitive  habits  and  customs  of  their  Eastern  ancestry.  It  would  be  easy 
to  imagine  one’s  self  back  among  patriarchal  races  and  Biblical  customs. 


The  Houses 


of  the  poor  and  middle  classes  are  of  the  simplest  con- 


struction, called  pdo  a pique Heavy  posts  set  in  the 
ground  serve  as  a framework,  while  upright  poles  between  them,  interlaced 
with  pliant  boughs  (or  the  c/pds,  which  climb  over  the  trees  in  every 
Brazilian  forest),  plastered  with  clay,  form  the  walls.  There  are  wooden 
shutters  to  the  apertures  which  serve  as  windows,  and  there  is  a tile  roof 
or  grass  thatch.  A few  articles  of  rude  furniture  supply  the  needs  in  that 
direction. 

Even  the  more  pretentious  houses,  with  their  curtainless  windows 
and  bare  doors,  seem  but  cheerless  homes  to  the  more  favored  inhabitants 
of  colder  climates.  The  mild  climate  and  open-air  life,  however,  render 
such  civilized  appliances  less  indispensable,  and  the  swarms  of  children 
who  pour  from  these  humble  dwellings  prove  that  they  are  not  unhealthy. 

though  ignorant  and  superstitious,  hold  a higher  position  and 
Woinen^  exert  a greater  influence  than  in  many  other  countries. 
According  to  their  light  they  are  often  notable  housewives,  attending  well 

4 


to  their  duties,  wliicli  consist  in  the  care  of  the  children  and  the 
preparation  of  their  food. 

One  of  the  household  industries  is  the  preparation  of 
Industries,  ^^Jarinha,^’  which  supplied  entirely  the  place  of  wheaten 
bread  until  a comparatively  recent  period,  and  is  still  a principal  article 
of  food  in  the  country,  where  baker^s  bread  cannot  be  procured.  Most  of 
the  farms  have  what  is  called  a “ monjolo'^  a simple  contrivance  for  crush- 
ing corn,  hulling  rice,  and  even  coffee  in  small  quantities.  It  consists  of  a 
large,  square  log,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  long,  suspended  on  a pivot  in  the 
middle.  One  end  is  hollowed  out  into  a sort  of  large  spoon,  capable  of 
holding  several  gallons  of  water,  and  the  other  end  furnished  with  a 
strong,  heavy,  wooden  pestle,  which  falls  into  a mortar  under  it.  The 
spoon  of  the  monjolo  is  placed  under  the  fall  of  any  small  stream  of  run- 
ning water.  As  soon  as  it  is  filled,  it  empties  itself  by  its  own  weight, 
and  the  pestle  at  the  other  end  falls  back  with  a heavy  thud  into  the 
mortar.  This  process  repeats  itself  as  long  as  the  water  is  turned  on,  and 
is  said  to  be  the  most  perfectly  adapted  labor-saving  machine  ever  invented 


JFood. 


for  the  use  of  primitive  people.  It  is  generally  protected  from  the 
weatlier  bv  a slight  building,  which  contains  a long  trough,  in  which  the 
Indian  corn  is  soaked  for  several  days  before  crushing,  and  three  or  four 
little  piles  of  brick  or  stones  to  support  the  large  sheet-iron  pan  in  which 
the  meal  is  toasted,  after  being  taken  from  the  mortar  and  sifted. 

The  farinha  thus  prepared  keeps  for  a long  time,  and  is  sprinkled 
over  the  food  or  used  with  milk.  It  is  an  indispensable  part  of  a 
meal  in  the  interior.  Farinha  is  also  made  of  the  mandiom  or  casmva  root 
and  with  frijao  ” — dark  beams,  and  rice,  constitutes  the  larger  part  of  the 
family  supply  of  food.  ^^Conve  ” and  the  tender  green  sprouts  of  the  abo- 
bara  ” or  cushaw  pumpkin,  are  largely  used  for  green  food.  The  conve  is 
what  is  known  as  collards  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States.  It  is  shred- 
ded fine  like  slaw  and  scalded.  Thus  prepared  it  makes  a very  wholesome 
dish,  which  is  much  esteemed.  The  family  must  be  poor,  indeed,  which 
has  not  its  little  conve  patch.  The  use  of  the  pumpkin  shoots  was  learned 
from  the  Indians,  from  whom  many  customs  were  derived. 


Palm  cabbage  is  another  food  in  general  use.  The  top  of  one  species 
of  palm  is  cutoff  in  a stick  two  or  three  feet  long  and  as  thick  as  a man’s 
arm.  Layer  after  layer  is  peeled  oft'  until  the  tender  bud  is  reached  and 
it  supplies  a small  dish  of  palmito.  A tree  is,  of  course,  destroyed  to  furnish 
each  dish,  but  this  is  considered  of  little  importance,  as  the  palms  are 
abundant  and  of  rapid  growth.  Butter  is  little  used  except  in  the  towns, 
and  is  imported  from  Europe ; but  home-made  cheese  is  an  important 
article  of  diet,  and  milk,  fresh  from  the  cow,  is  largely  used  and  consid- 
ered very  beneficial  for  invalids.  It  takes  the  place  of  the  universal  early 
morning  coffee  on  the  farms,  and  is  brought  into  the  towns  in  bottles 
strung  across  the  backs  of  horses  or  mules. 

Medicines  people  are  quite  skillful  in  the  use  of  vegetable  reme- 

dies, the  flora  of  the  country  being  exceedingly  rich  in 
medicinal  plants  and  trees.  Much  of  this  knowledge  was  also  derived 
from  the  Indians,  and  every  experienced  head  of  a household  possesses  an 
almost  unlimited  pharrnacopia.  They  seem  to  make  up  for  the  want  of 
knowledge  derived  from  books  by  a much  larger  amount  of  practical 

7 


knowledge  than  usual ly  falls  to  the  lot  of  those  who  have  more  theoretical 
information. 

They  are  a kindly  and  hospitable  folk,  almost  Eastern  in  their  kindness 
to  strangers. 

Customs  made  very  early,  sometimes  at  twelve  years  of 

age,  and  frequently  at  fourteen  or  fifteen.  As  in  warm  cli- 
mates generally,  children  develop  very  early,  and,  consequently,  the  bur- 
dens of  life  fall  heavily,  upon  the  women  especially.  The  girls  are  pretty, 
bright  creatures,  with  sparkling  eyes  and  abundant  glossy,  dark  hair ; but 
they  soon  fade  and  lose  their  beauty.  By  the  time  they  are  thirty-five  or 
forty  they  look  like  old  women.  Children  are  much  more  docile  than 
their  more  active  fellows  in  colder  countries,  and  even  in  their  plays  are 
rather  languid.  Their  minds  seem  to  partake  of  the  early  bodily  develop- 
ment, and  where  they  have  the  opportunity  to  attend  school  they  are  often 
more  advanced  than  the  children  of  the  same  age  in  Northern  countries, 
but  they  (the  girls  especially)  frequently  leave  school  so  young  that  the 
development  is  apt  to  be  arrested  after  a certain  age. 


There  is  much  that  is  patriarchal  in  the  simplicity  of  their  lives. 
Some  of  their  ways  are  quite  interesting.  When  a young  person  comes 
into  the  presence  of  the  parent  after  a short  separation  the  father  or  mother 
extends  the  hand,  palm  downward,  and  the  child  bows  over  it  and  presses 
it  to  his  lips  in  a most  reverential  manner. 

The  families  are  frequently  very  large, — twenty  or  twenty-four  chil- 
dren by  one  mother  are  not  uncommon.  In  one  of  the  native  churches 
a man  of  thirty-two  years  of  age  had  two  grandchildren,  he  having  mar- 
ried at  sixteen  and  his  daughter  at  twelve. 

The  custom  of  going  barefoot  still  prevails  largely  in  the  sitios. 
Tamancos^  a species  of  wooden  soled  half-shoe,  or  c^ine//as— slippers  which 
can  easily  be  slipped  off  the  feet — are  generally  used.  The  feet  are  always 
bathed  at  night,  and  it  would  be  a breach  of  hospitality  not  to  offer  water 
to  guests  for  that  purpose.  The  earthen  floors  and  careless  habit  of  throw- 
ing scraps  of  food  and  bones  on  the  ground,  offer  abundant  o])portunities 
for  tlie  dogs  to  eat  of  the  crumbs  wliich  fall  from  their  masters’  tables. 

Until  quite  recently  the  custom  of ‘‘  weeping  and  wailing  and  making 

9 


a noise”  on  the  occasion  of  death  prevailed  in  remote  places,  and  even  the 
hired  weeping  women  are  still  spoken  of  by  aged  [)eople.  Corpses  are 
brought  into  the  rural  cemeteries  wra})ped  in  a sheet  and  carried  by 
bearers  in  a hammock  and  buried  without  coffins.  In  the  small  towns 
little  children’s  bodies,  dressed  in  the  gayest  apparel  obtainable,  are  borne, 
in  an  open  pasteboard  coffin,  hired  for  the  occasion,  by  their  little 
playfellows  to  the  grave,  with  the  little  dead  faces  exposed  for  the  last  time 
to  the  sun’s  rays  and  then  taken  out  and  laid  in  the  bosom  of  Mother  Earth. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  see  a number  of  rude  baskets,  woven  of  the  cane 
which  grows  abundantly  in  the  thickets,  turned  upside  down  over  the  tiny 
graves  after  they  have  been  used  to  bring  the  little  bodies  from  a distance 
for  burial.  The  earth,  they  say,  was  cursed,  and  the  idea  of  burying  in  un- 
hallowed ground  is  so  abhorrent  that  long  journeys  are  made  to  lay  them 
away  in  holy  ground.  In  some  places  the  bells  ring  out  a merry  peal  when 
a baby  dies,  to  celehi-ate  the  entrance  of  an  “aaym/io” — a little  angel— into 
heaven, 

lu 


Babies  are  usually  brought  for  baptism  on  the  eighth  day.  They  are 
sprinkled  with  holy  water,  signed  with  the  cross,  salt  and  spittle  from 
the  priest’s  lips  is  put  into  the  mouth  and  his  breath  breathed  into  their 
nostrils  to  give  them  a living  soul.  If  they  die  before  this  ceremony  takes 
place,  their  little  bodies  are  buried  in  an  unconsecrated  corner  of  the  cem- 
etery, and  their  souls  supposed  to  be  in  limbo.  When  death  approaches 
the  ignorant  people  frequently  take  the  dying  from  their  rude  beds  and 
lay  them  on  a rude  mat  or  on  the  ground,  to  breathe  their  last,  placing 
candles  in  their  hands  to  light  their  way  through  the  dark  valley. 

Nannie  Henderson. 

Salem,  Virginia. 


Price,  2 cents;  15  cents  per  dozen. 


I 


' 'i  J 


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